A slowing Sheldon Haudenschild drew the first caution of the night on lap 11, setting up a double-file restart with Schatz down low and Kerry Madsen up high, but the restart was delayed briefly by a flat tire on Terry McCarl’s No. 24.
When the green flag waved again, it was Schatz opening up a full second over the field, with Ian Madsen passing older brother Kerry right at the halfway point and Daryn Pittman following behind in fourth.
But slower traffic was still to play a factor. Schatz had to go three-wide around the outside of a pair of slower cars with 12 to go down the backstretch, and then was held up by Brent Marks inside of 10 to go as Ian Madsen charged to within a car length of Schatz for the top spot.
However a caution for six to go, when Daryn Pittman lost a right-rear tire while running fourth, cleared the track for the leaders and set up one final double-file restart for all the marbles.
Schatz chose the bottom and left Ian Madsen on top, working clear of the Australian as Dave Blaney passed Kerry Madsen for third behind them.
Though Ian Madsen tried to get to Schatz’s inside coming to five to go, Schatz was too strong and took a .376 of a second victory despite just getting back into traffic on the final lap.
The runner-up result was a solid one for the 2017 Knoxville Raceway track champion, but he was disappointed with not being able to track down the nine-time Outlaws title-winner on the final circuit.
“I was just concentrating on trying to do the best race I could. I really felt like we had a shot at the win at some points during the race,” said Ian Madsen. “It was a great night for us. I just can’t thank my (KCP Racing) team enough. This car has been really fast this year and it’s a testament to how hard the guys work each night. I’m just having a lot of fun … it’s just cool to race with Donny and all these guys.”
“I started to close in on Donny; I just don’t know that there was much we could have done if we’d caught him. It was just pretty cool to be dicing with him like we were and hopefully we can do it one more time tomorrow night.”
Dave Blaney quietly shot by Kerry Madsen on the final night to bring home a third-place finish and complete the podium after starting 10th in the Motter Motorsports No. 71M. Joey Saldana completed the top five.
Balog faded to sixth at the finish, followed by Logan Schuchart, Jason Johnson, Brad Sweet and Tim Shaffer.
The World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series season concludes Saturday night with the finale to the Textron Off-Road World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
Sweet was the night’s KSE Hard Charger, coming from a provisional starting spot in 25th to his ninth-place finish at the checkered flag.
Three-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart finished on the lead lap with his No. 14 Rush Truck Centers J&J, coming home 21st in the 30-car starting field.
Full race results can be viewed on the next page…
